OKLAHOMA CITY — Jessica Clements delivered a two-run walk-off home run in the seventh inning to give No. 9 UCLA a 4-2 win over No. 16 Oregon in the final game of the opening day of the Women’s College World Series on Thursday.
After Oregon tied it in the top of the inning, the Bruins answered in the bottom half.
Sofia Mujica delivered a one-out single up the middle, and then, after a foul-out, Clements jumped on Elise Sokolsky’s 0-1 pitch, driving it out to center for the win.
The Bruins will face No. 12 Texas Tech in a winners’ bracket game on Saturday, while the Ducks will take on Ole Miss in an elimination game on Friday.
UCLA led 2-1 entering the seventh before Oregon’s Paige Sinicki led off the inning with a double.
Sinicki advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, then appeared to be cut down at the plate on a sharp grounder to third. However, after a review, UCLA catcher Alexis Ramirez was called for obstruction on the play, which made the game a tie.
To that point, Ramirez had been the hero. The redshirt sophomore put the Bruins ahead with a two-run home run in the fourth.
With Oregon ahead 1-0, Jordan Woolery led off the UCLA fourth with a single to left.
Ducks pitcher Lyndsey Grein got two outs and was a strike away from escaping the inning unscathed before Ramirez jumped on a 2-2 rise ball for a home run to left field.
Oregon took the lead in the third on Kedre Luschar’s two-out RBI single to right. However, Kaitlyn Terry otherwise shut down the Ducks’ lineup, allowing just four hits in the complete-game victory. Terry struck out six without issuing a walk.
Grein pitched five-plus innings and permitted two runs on five hits and two walks. She fanned two.
–Field Level Media
